PETERBOROUGH MODEL FLYING CLUB

MAGAZINEDiary

2015

24

Produced both as a paper copy and as an e-mail attachment forPMFC members, and subsequently on our website

www.peterboroughmfc.org

N.B. Please refer to the Club Calendar onthe website for more detailed, and more upto date information.

June

SPRINGINTO ACTION

FERRY COMPETITIONS:Friday 19th June, Tuesday 14th July, Friday 14th

August, Tuesday 15th Sept. Did you get that, Mick??(also, F/F get-togethers every Tuesday & Friday, 1pm to dark.)

FLYING ACES: Sunday 6th September

CONTROL LINE DATES: at Thorpe Meadow.Tues 23 June……………………..Aerobatic WorkshopMon 20th July………………….…CL Picnic/Trojan RacingMon 17th August (at Peakirk) …….Goodyear TestingMon 21st Sept…..…………………Combat Racing.

OLD WARDEN WEEKENDS:July 25/26th (Scale), September 26/27th.

The fun neverstops at all-actionPMFC! Exceptwhen nurse tellsBernie and BVW totake their after-noon nap.

Comprehensive coverage of PMFC at the Free Flight Nats.

Indoor, Outdoor, Free Flight, Control Line, Radio Control,Scale, Vintage, Diesel, Electric, Sport, Contest,..we do it all!

Support PMFC running of the “Masefield Trophy, on 26th July at O.W.

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Editor@peterboroughmfc.org

COMMITTEE for 2015:Chairman Bernie NicholsVice Dave ClarkSecretary/Magazine

John AshmoleTreasurer/M’ship Sec:

Richard ArnoldF/F Sec John AshmoleC/L Sec Brian LeverR/C Sec Dave ShiptonScale Russ ListerSafety/Ferry Liaison :

Dave RumballWebmaster Tony Beckett

Good luck with page 20, Julio!I enjoyed writing the “Month of May” item, with info coming in from all quar-ters. Makes me feel like a real journalist! Thanks to all contributors. Photos byMick, Bryan Lea and er…I wish I’d kept a list!

Next mag. After Flying Aces. Your contributions, please!

Saddled with the impossible job of consoling a defeatedcandidate at the General Election, my attention was drawnto the words of Teddy Roosevelt: “Far better it is to daremighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even thoughchequered by failure…than to take rank with those poorspirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because theylive in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor de-feat.” Put simply, it’s better to have a go and lose, than notto try in the first place.

This edition conveys stories of drama, delight and disap-pointment. It is, mostly, about people who have a go.

And the evidence shows that it’s never too late to have ago, whether it is to be the oldest winner of chuck glider atthe Nats (see page 14) or to plan a multi-million poundjewel heist at the age of 76! Like bad wine, we must allowourselves to immature with age. The PMFC League ofGentlemen is hereby licenced to misbehave with greyabandon!

These ARE the Good Old Days!

FRONT COVER: Mick Page announced his re-tirement from chuck glider on the Saturday of theNats, but had another go on the Sunday. The out-come? Ha! Read on!

Who needs the Bowden when you have had theEuropean Cup?

Mike Woodhouse doffs his hatin deference to Mick Page,the oldest winner in this veryphysical category, as CDJohn Williams congratulateshim on his LAST ever HLGwin.

THE MICK PAGE PAGE

…and the very next day,still on a high, Mick be-gan his new career inP20. He was also tomeet the nearest thing wehave to royalty in FreeFlight, Sue Hipperson.

As Peter reports, Mick was seen purchasing a brand new P30 from SpencerWillis, a Sweet Pea 30.” At last a real plane!”

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PAGE THREE TRIBUTE:

JMA

On the Air: The Radio Page

The kind of “Sunlight through the structure” picture that Editors love: well, this onedoes as it’s mine, the Mercury Aeronca.

VICTORY IN EUROPE, 1945

At the last count the membership of PMFC was 73, which may be a record.We are being noticed by the modelling community (how could they miss us)and the club sweatshirt (I’ve still got some for sale) seems to add kudos tothe wearer. Our members are also playing their part in the wider modellingcommunity, with close links to SAM, with Dave Leeding successfully run-ning the Bowden, and our Boffins at large in the Internet chatrooms. We arealso masters at the (perhaps oxymoronic) art of small field duration. But,most of all, we are having fun without rancour and, just occasionally, beingnoticed on the National (sorry, Mark, ‘International’) stage.

The Leeding and Ash-mole Black Magics waitnervously for their firsttrimming flights. David’s(he promises to find ablack spinner asap) be-gan with a Radio kit ver-sion, but soon realisedthat it did not reflect theessence of the originaldesign, so borrowedJohn’s torn, patched,Sellotaped plan. John’swas built several yearsago for f/f, but with theloss of Barkston, it hasbecome one of severalR/C conversions.

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Why Gliders?A kitscale rule change permitted gliders from 2012. It was probably an over-

sight, but the organiser, Andy, had to be prepared just in case someone turned upwith one. He has also been developing his own versions as reported in previousPMFC magazines and intends to contest the class next year.

Andy had brought with him his 30” Veron Prefect, built as standard but for 1/16”incidence at wing leading edge and, for this example, painted.

NB Use no paint on kitscale::Silver tissue good, silver paint bad.Trim needs to be straight tow, smooth transition, turning glide, the launch is criti-

cal and the trimming procedure is, he says, “bl**dy difficult.” He used wash-in onleft wing and some right rudder, to hold her straight on tow & then turn right. Thetowhook is angled slightly downwards to prevent hang-ups, and its location is 15degrees forward of the balance point. (Some, including Jonathon Whitmore, useoffset towhook , but would this cost scale points?) We should expect a glide of 10to 15 seconds, but durations of 20 seconds plus have been reported.

The glider specific, flying only, rules can be found at www.scalebmfa.co.uk. Thecurrent intention is to gather competitors, after which scale judging may be addedin future.

“Nowlistenup,andlistengood!”

CLUBNIGHT:Andy Sephton on Indoor Gliders

Andy concluded his entertaining evening with a description of how to fly with aFirst World War rotary engine (“…when you take off, you turn left and climb, orturn right and die.”) and followed with film of himself flying the ShuttleworthBlackburn. That alone made the evening’s journey worthwhile.(It should be mentioned that, just to arrive and deliver the evening’s entertain-

ment was an achievement for one who was still in the concluding stages of seriousmedical treatment, but after you have had a career of test flying jets…….

Thanks, Andy, all at PMFC wish you well.)

STOP PRESS!SAMS new owner is a

PMFC member.AND, he wins comps!

Hopefully, we will be the firstto hear of the many plannedinnovations, as Kevin hasbeen invited to use this maga-zine to keep us all updated.

Hello to all you fellow flyers at the Peterborough Model Flying Club.My name is Kevin Wallace and I am now a member of this fine bodyof flyers and the proud owner of SAMS Models. The business is pri-marily web and ‘phone based and in the fine traditions of oursport/hobby I intend to build on the name and reputation of SAMS byupdating and improving the range of accessories available to all. I ama keen flyer myself across most disciplines, although I favour FreeFlight Scale and I regularly compete at National contests.

Please feel free to contact me however you feel most comfortable,although if it is by ‘phone I will be most easily reached on a Tuesdayor a Thursday for the time being. The most important thing is that Iwill respond.

Now the important part: my contact details are:

Telephone 01480 394474And snail mail address17 Ackerman GardensEaton SoconSt. NeotsCambs. PE19 8HPWebsite www.samsmodels.com(NB This will be updated a lot in thenext few months.)Email aeroplanes@samsmodels.co.uk

And finally we do lovevisitors, BUT we are not ashop so please alwaysring before just turning upas you may well face dis-appointment if no-one isin to receive you. I haveplans to change this sokeep in touch over thenext few months.

….Kevin

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SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES

With the coming of peace to Europe in 1918, small engineering concerns such as Herbert “Herb”Garden’s family owned company, which had specialised in jigs and patterns for the aircraft indus-try and was known as “Garden Tools,” had to diversify in order to survive.The refurbishment of 1 W. W. aircraft engines (Garden Gnomes) proved to be of little value in the

fast-growing automotive industry to which the company was now aimed. An obsolete straighteight engine was tried, but found to be too cumbersome for anything but the experimental slow-moving hearse (Bier Garden.)

Along with old school friend and colleague Walter Butt, source of many jokes, he decided tofork out and support the craze for home-build lightweight aircraft: their first design employed theinnovative modular self-assembly “Garden’s Wing” (needing only an Allen key.) It folded due tothe incomprehensibility of the multi-lingual instruction booklet, although some in the business hadalready regarded this project as rather going out on a Lympne. Trials were subsequently abortedafter the inadequately tethered Garden Parasol, as it was known, was blown over in a gale. In--house aircraft production, on however small a scale, was clearly the wrong root to take.

Herbert had a continuing interest in developing a means of swift postal delivery, and workingalongside another well known innovative designer, the VW engined “Compervan” showed prom-ise, until war intervened again. (In fact, it was not until the popular, Internet-basedwww.garden.com/post that success was achieved.)

Initially less willing to do the spadework involved in developing new products was his son, Rod-ney Garden, a rakish young man, educated at Harrow but threatened with expulsion several tines.He was a haughty, cultured character who despite temptation managed to keep off the grass, andfound fleeting fame as the cox of the rowing eight , pipped at the post in one of the core events atHenley by a team made up of several public schools, but known to be half Eton.

He showed no interest in the family company, preferring architecture, doing well in garden cityplanning, until the lure of politics intervened. Failing to build sufficient grassroots support, theGarden Party progressed no further than the back benches. In fact, an embarrassing scandal involv-ing conspiracy in a hedge fund was to end his public career. It came to prominence when, cyclingout of Downing Street, he punched and felled an overzealous policeman and was debarred fromthe House. Naturally the press had a field day, proclaiming “GARDEN DECKING: BANNED.” Thesubsequent court case, the notorious “Gardengate” hinged upon a judgement by Lord JusticeLuck, Q.C., which was regarded by the defendants as an arbour tree decision. Rodney became athorn in the side of the family, as he forced his attentions onto Walter’s attractive but initially unre-sponsive niece, Rose. Undeterred, he endeavoured to woo her on the sly. Drool as he might, shewould have no trug with him. A thoroughly modern girl for the ‘30’s (her hobby was playing thetuber) she made one abortive contribution to the business: following upon a sudden, and deeplyembarrassing, discovery came the short lived herbal laxative “Thyme and Motion.” However,since this involved neither engineering nor aeronautical expertise, the product fell between twostools, and the idea went down the pan.

Subsequently realising that her paramour had matured and learnt from his misdeeds, the buddingromance bore fruit, and for Rose, coupling became a fragrant option after all. She formally becameRose Garden shortly afterwards, so it was no longer necessary for either of them to plough a lonelyfurrow. Between them they pruned the less profitable branches of the business in the perennialsearch for a source of regular income. Working for the aviation industry again, Rose Joints andRod Ends became a speciality. It is believed that Faireys were at the bottom of this contract.Today, their daughter runs the company. But her name is knot Garden, so that’s another story.

SECTIONS BUT NOT FACTIONSOne period of three busy days in the middle of

March highlighted the division of the club intosections, as the free flight boys enjoyed someexcellent weather at Ferry on the Friday, withthe C/L crowd attending the Show and Tellevent at Peakirk the same evening. Then, on theSaturday morning, the indoor gang enjoyedsome very civilised trimming and competing atBushfield, before Free Flight came to the foreagain at North Luffenham on the Sunday.Should we be concerned about these divisions?Certainly not! Firstly, there is considerable over-lap in personnel as members either take part in avariety of disciplines or assist each other, andsecondly, we are all strongly united in our desireto design, and develop model aircraft that wehave built ourselves. In this respect, PMFC maynot be unique, but there are very few similarclubs to be found.

Here are some impressions from those days,which marked the end of the indoor season andthe first forays outside:

At Peakirk, Mick Taylor (also a re-cent Bowden winner) gave a brief,concise resume of the history of Vin-tage Stunt, illustrated with three ap-propriate models. Here is the first, the“Hot Rock” his 1984 winner, withOS 25. 31 years old, and still in “asnew” condition.

At North Luffenham, Terry Pagewas trimming his “Phasmid.”Began as a conventional model with

full length 36”motor, six strands of3/16th, Senator prop. The idea was tohave a motor run longer than themax. but that made the moment armtoo short so, undeterred, Terry turnedthe job round to become a canard. Itwas “To make comp flying easier.”Yes, really! (Well, if nobody tookrisks, Michaelangelo would havepainted the Cistine floor.) Goes nice-ly, with 4 degrees positive on frontplane. NB: Remember to wind anti-clockwise!(Developed from an idea in SAVS Magazine “Prop Swing” 2008)

6 19

Above: BVW brought aPhilibuster to Peakirk.Seems appropriate, some-how! Right:On Saturday atBushfield he worked hardwith little reward, preparingthis Corben Baby Ace for theindoor Nats. Good detail.

At the C/L evening, Team B& B gave a detailed presenta-tion on “How to win in MiniGoodyear.” It’s not reportedhere, lest the facts fall into thehands of the enemy. Sufficientto say that the boffins on theFormula One pitwall have iteasy compared with BL’s tacti-cal race time calculations togain best advantage. There’salways more to the game thanmeets the eye.

At North Luffenhamthe day after, Dave Bentdemonstrated the “Tum-bling Pigeon “ d/t sys-tem: t.e of wing lifts,model summersaults &impersonates a shot pi-geon, or a very sickduck. Comes down well:worth considering forlightweight models.Model is o/d P30

PROGRESS WITH THE AERONCA 100

But if that’s Dave Rumballwinding at the Nats, who canthis dark hero be?

…................................................................................................................

These Dumas Jumbo kits are worth look-ing at: big enough for a large rubber mo-tor (although mine will be electric) butstrong, so they can survive in Englishconditions. (If you import, however, ex-pect the postman to ask for another £8 forimport duties.) Good plan, though not upto Aerographics excellent standards, tim-ber OK, except for the stripwood, ofwhich there was far too much, and oflimited use. I omitted to replace the lowerfuselage longerons, & had to retro fit ex-tra spacers to reduce curving after dop-ing. I have slightly altered the fuselage toresemble a 100 rather than the C-3 of thekit.

The Atomic Workshop motor, controllerand battery fit onto a sledge that can beslid into the nose, or into subsequentmodels. (Thanks to Gareth for that idea.)

718

Hey! I wanta go! RobSmith runsrings roundBrian Wa-terland (andthat’s not aneasy thing todo) in anattempt toget to thehandle.

First C/Lclub Day,20th April.At ThorpeMeadow.(See backpages fordates.)

BVW’s electricstunter. A Peace-maker deriva-tive, using a 250- 300 watt out-runner and 3Cell LiPo of2300 mAh.“Feels like a’soft’ 2.5 die-sel.”

NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED:

Members should have read it by now, butin case you haven’t, please turn to pages34-36 of the June issue of BMFA News. Ittells the story of the United Kingdom teamin F1D European championships, held inthe salt mines of Slanic, Roumania. The“Mark” frequently referred to in the ac-count is our own Mark Benns, PMFC mem-ber and presenter of two fascinatingclubnight talks in recent Winters. He, andthe team, finished in mid-table after under-going a variety of adventures along theway. Do read it…but finish this magazinefirst!

Things that REALLY annoy me*

* as well as people who turn right at roundabouts without indicating.

…..........................................................................................................

The current fad for laser cut kits.

I recently took delivery of a “short kit,” a set of laser cut parts for a my next R/C Scalejob, from one of the magazine publishers. Just touching the formers and ribs made myfingers black with carbon, so a serious clean up job would be needed at once. Sand theedges. The carbon smears onto the sandpaper, and onto the sides of the components.Wash hands, change sandpaper, wash down worktop. Again, again and again. At last Ihave the clean components, in approximately the right shapes… these were large pieces:imagine the potential loss of accuracy if they had been smaller. And if I don’t do thissanding, dark lines will show through the covering, especially of the ribs. One wellknown manufacturer of sport and scale designs stamps part numbers on all componentswhich, if they are adjacent to a covered surface, will need thorough sanding to removeand which can distort the shapes. So, what’s wrong with bandsawing? Why do I build somany Vintage jobs from a supplier who bandsaws accurately, leaving no extra prepara-tion to be done?

Oh, and while I’m having a winge, those excellent Aerographics kits, which I would al-ways recommend, use a blue ink to mark out the cut-em-yourself parts but, unless everylast molecule of dye is removed, will form thin blue lines across the covering as soon asthey meet a brushful of thinners. Recently, having scrapped a Luton Minor wing be-cause of this phenomenon, I just used one kit rib as a template for the others cut from myown wood. Of course, kits have to be made attractive to sell, and it is in our interest thatthey do so. We must adapt. After all we are model builders, aren’t we? ….JMA

The intrepid rider from ourlast edition is Tony Becket.

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Indoor Free Flight Nationals, Walsall

Our spies inform us that Brian Waterland struggled to complete this CorbenBaby Ace (for which I, for one, fully sympathise) and it finished at he bottom ofthe pile in Kitscale. BUT, Alex Whittaker took photos of it, so it was all worth-while!

Three members made the journey, Russ Lister coming 3rd in Kit Scale,with this version of the 18” Aerographics kit,while Brian Lever used hisPeanut Nesmith Cougar both in Kitscale (11th) and in Peanut (8th).

Also on the Monday, Dave Rumball and myself (JMA) Cee Dee’d the 36” Hi-Start Gliderand under 25” rubber comps on behalf of SAM. Good experience, but not as many partici-pants as hoped for: SAM communications may have been partly at fault, but this will beaddressed. (My report on this event will appear in the July SAM Speaks.) As Pee Gee in-sists “THE FLAG FLIES ON!

England won a very good Test Match. The “Solar Impulse” stopped short ofcrossing the Pacific due to a weather front . Mass arrests at FIFA hotel. Dramaticbreakthrough in the field of oncology, from which we may all benefit. And so theMonth of May came to an end.

Above:The Compleat Flyer: (and mag-azine columnist) Ian Middlemiss, pre-pared for HLG action.Left: Bowden CD and 36” Hi-Startcompetitor, Dave Leeding with VeronSonic.

Ugh! The moment whenMartin realises that he’sbrought his fishing mag-gots instead of sandwich-es.

Tony cannot bear tolook.

16 9

THE MONTH OF MAYIt started with a death and a birth. Sadly Geoff Duke, the man who taught me (tried to

teach me) to drink whisky and who, more successfully, won the world motorcyclingchampionship and the Senior TT six times, left us, at the age of 92. He was replaced onthe planet by our new Royal, Charlotte, an innocent child whose future is beyond thepowers of prediction.

On the first Sunday, your Editor plunged into the world of GT racing, at spectator-un-friendly Rockingham, complained bitterly about the conditions but thoroughly enjoyedthe day. There was an Election, which resulted in more leaders (on the 70th VE Day)falling on their swords than in the last Act of Julius Caesar. But May is the month inwhich free flight and control line come into their own.

May 9th and 10th:Waterland “kettled”at the “BartonBash.”

Intrepid Brian Waterland, with-out his other half on this occa-sion, was severely roughed upin Mini Goodyear. Kate Adiebeing otherwise engaged, werely upon war correspondentIan Lever for an account:

“It was fraught in the centreof the circle with some verycommitted/aggressive flying bypilots who had just arrivedfresh from the Barton teamrace circle. Outside the circle itwas very entertaining to watchin the way a suspense/horrormovie is. There had to be arestart of the final following acrash which involved lots ofcyano being poured into Bri-an’s fuselage. The restart was areplay with a coming togetherwhich resulted in Brian’s mod-el stuck into the ground like atent peg.

New British Champion in E30, RodBrigginshaw enjoys “The buzz of win-ning.”Five maxes, says Pee Gee, and a brilliant5 mins 11 seconds, landing half a mileoff the drome beating all the big names.WELL DONE, ROD!

Rob Brigginshaw writes:“If you have room I

would like to include aheartfelt thanks to MartinMcHugh, Mick Page andespecially Peter Gibbonswho found my model .All three went above andbeyond the call of dutyto search for my modelwhich went some dis-tance off the airfield lateon the last day of theNats. I only picked outPete because he stayedsteadfastly on his linedespite my efforts to de-flect him along thewrong one. I think I hadbeen following thewrong model. All threethen went even furtherand stayed through thelongest medal ceremonyI have ever attended. Itsay’s much for Mick’scharacter that he nevereven mentioned that hewas collecting a winner’smedal for chuck gliderfrom the previous day.Once again, thank you

to you all.”

Monday 25th May: Barkston under acloud.

A sense of foreboding hung, like the clouds,over the heath all Monday. News that there hadbeen no fly-offs on the previous evening due tofarmers’ objections, the “red line” injunctionthat no model be allowed to fly out of the fieldand the corralling of all competitors into thesouth west corner was added to fears that thefield may soon be lost to us for the foreseeablefuture. Sports flying was out of the question.Perhaps the feeling was greater than the reality.A wind shift relieved the organisers of the flyoffproblem later in the day, but our friends of theFFTC must be thanked for enabling the eventsto be completed in very difficult conditions.

So,folks, ifanyone losesanything,model, mar-bles or youth,just ask Peter.He’ll find it!

10 15

One opponent was DQ’d for flying with on-ly a port wing and the other landing straightinto Brian’s model and destroying both ofthem.Brian takes up the story:”With Sheila Lever

hors do combat” with a broken shoulder,Brian Lever became head cook, bottle wasterand tea maker for the hordes of Sheila’s wellwishers. He was thus unable to join me in aforay to the North (Eccles) to fly in BritishGoodyear at the Barton Bash - an event thatwas started to fill the hole left by the endingof PMFC’s Cabbage Patch Nationals.

My wife, Liz, suggested I go anyway. Withinthe hour I had an unexpected call from LenMorrall, from Heywood Lancs, who volun-teered to pit for me in Mini Goodyear. I bor-rowed all the kit from Brian L. and flew theyellow carbon fibre model. Saturday’s heattimes were not good but we were still secondfastest. With a 4.53 time on the Sunday wehad got our act together but, unfortunately,

May 12th: Last minute Drama at FerryTwenty mph winds at Ferry means no flying, so events began in the teashop. By the starting time

of 4pm a handful of members stood around cars discussing the topic of the day, the proposednational flying field which immediately split opinion. Eventually Bert, however, made it clearthat he had not come all this way to chat, so led the way to the field.

Gradually, as forecast, the wind began to drop. A max was set at 40 seconds, and we waited andwaited. One thing that cannot be gainsaid is the level of debate whenever PMFC types get together.Some launches took place, led by Peter Gibbons and Dave Clark with their Catapult Gliders. It wasnot until 25 minutes before cut-off time, however, that conditions were truly flyable and improvingby the minute. Then, mayhem broke out. Tony Johnson (on his umpty-second birthday) and PeterAdams circled around each other, P20’s in hand, like a pair of hungry wolves. Bert began lobbingmodels into he air willy nilly, while shouting for timekeepers. Dave Clark calmly prepped hisHi-Start Gnome, but, returning too casually from his second retrieve, despite much shouting tohurry up (and chairman Bernie making noises like a off-key klaxon,) he took just too long inmaking a slight cyano repair, and missed the cut by a minute or so. He took it well. I think.Mention should also be made of Richard Arnold, who joined in erudite conversation for a couple

of hours, then flew his one model, crashed it, dividing it like Gaul, into three parts, and went homesaying that he had enjoyed a Great Afternoon Out.

“££££££££££££££££££££££££££ sob!”

so did everyone else! However, we made it into the final 200 laps, 5 pitstops. Not so much a final- more a melee! After an early line tangle the final restarted and the scrum in the middle contin-ued. I tentpegged our model into the soft soil and then another flyer’s model hit ours square on -totally destroying it. At this point the final was abandoned and prizes awarded on the basis ofheat times. So it was that Len and I received second place medals and I returned home to breakthe news to Brian L that he now had the only Mini Goodyear model in the world with polyhedralwings! (By way of consolation, Brian was to finish 2nd in Peacemaker Stunt, out of seven.)

Sunday: 24th May: The Bowden: “HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY.”

Not PMFC’s finest hour. Berniemade a good first flight, which onlyincreased the pain of his second,but as for other entries, they are,dare I say, barely worth writingabout. So I won’t. HOWEVER, itwould be wrong not to mention thatOUR Dave Leeding and his teammade an admirable job of runningthe event, safely and smoothly.They even stayed to wash the run-way surface after small amounts offuel had been dripped upon it, andcompleted a “fod plod” to ensurenothing was left behind. Thanks toall.

In the other free flight arena, Peterreports similarly that lack of prac-tice was blamed for the paucity ofsuccess.

Above: Ken kept us all awake withthe raucous calling of competitors’names. No excuse for missing yourturn.Paul Lumsdon’s bravery knew nobounds…for flying a low-winger, Imean.

Left:…and it was gone. BVW, whohas a go at everything (apart fromMoris Dancing, and he’s clearlybeen practicing) had two greatflights with his E30. Achieved twomaxes, lost oos on the second, butmodel was subsequently returned.

The “Month of May” continues…

14 11

Bert “fly anything, anywhere”Whitehead, with DPR RareBird, at Ferry.

CAT Glider:1) Peter Gibbons 62 sec. 2pts.2) Dave Clark 47 sec 1pt3) Bert Whitehead 24 sec.

P20:1) Peter Adams 112 sec, 1pt.2) Tony Johnson 42 sec.

Hi-Start Glider:1) Bert Whitehead 56 sec. 1pt20 Dave Clark 52 sec.

Best flight of the day were the two maxes (both went for71 seconds,) by Peter Adams.And, remarkably, no models flew into trees or the water.Next event, Friday 19th June.

May 16th and 17th, Old Warden

Tectonic plates shifted, as India pushed further into China, and Nepal buckled a littlemore. At Indianapolis, where “The Month of May” has a greater resonance, racingcars took off and flew, in pursuit of the 230mph lap.

The new proprietor of SAMS is now a PMFC mem-ber! Hopefully he will keep us all up to date on anynew innovations and products. Kevin Wallace sold,talked and sold again, for two long days. Tough go-ing, but the energy and humour survived the dis-tance. See Page 21.(Oh, and many thanks to his predecessor George, forlooking after us so well, for so long!)

Robin Read selling more of helate Peter Lilley’s motors and(Coasby) models. Rememberhis visit to or clubnight? Hetook £220. From us. From PM-FC! From the meanest bunch oftightwads on the planet! Welldone, sir!

Gaffe of the Month: Mick Page, loaded with models and infectious enthusiasm, arrived atFerry on Friday 15th for the comp which had taken place three days earlier! READ THEMAG, Mick!

(Gareth continues)“In the Aeromodeller/Model Aircraft

competition that followed Kitscale, I flewthe Lancaster which is a modified versionof the one published in AM March 1994by one Brian Waterland. (See ‘PageThree Model‘ and subsequent story inPMFC Mag, Sept 2014)Powered by four KPO1 motors which I

found cooked the KP controller, I wasforced to re-wire it for two controllers afew days before the event, so it had nothad a powered test; fairly important on afour engined scale model . The test flighttook place on a windy Barkston and end-ed with a broken wing.

I decided to repair it a few minutes be-fore the competition but restoring thecarefully-built washout was always goingto be hard in a windy field with a tube ofCyano. To my surprise it put in threequalifying flights but it really needs thepower and trim sorted out, the power set-ting is too high and the power downphase is too abrupt. I also suspect mylaunch technique need improvement.Totally overshadowed by the rubber

Shackleton, nobody took any interest inthe Lancaster which is a shame becauseBrian deserves credit for his designachievement.“ (Gareth is too modest, as Iam sure all readers will agree…Ed.)…Back to Kitscale, this time from AndySephton:

“I bought a 36” easy Built Lysander, an18” KK Tiger Moth and a 21” KK PiperFamily cruiser (PFC) to this event. Con-ditions were too blustery for the Lysanderand Tiger, so I campaigned the PFC. Myidea was to put too much rubber in andget a sharp climb to get out of ground ef-fect, followed by a poor glide, helped bythe nose block falling out, to bring it backhome with consistent timing. I onlywound to about 80% turns so the rubberwould last all through the event withoutdeterioration. First 35 seconds, but thesecond was 13. Final flight 22, so differential 31, placing 8th.

Meanwhile, on another part of the field:

(Peter Gibbons reports….)

Saturday: Catapult Glider, 1st; Mark Benns.8th, Peter Gibbons

…and in Open Glider the club Nova (built byBernie) was flown by Team McHugh/Gibbons anddid 7m 15 sec, just fifteen seconds short of a flyoff. Itsuffered no damage, so is ready to fly again anotherday. (One of the flights was six minutes, landing amile off the ‘drome..)

…...................Sunday………………………….

SHOCK NEWS :IDM writes for club mag!(and with good reason)

“The Battle of the Giants.”

“With double figure windspeeds and air temper-ature at jacket donning level, the 2015 HLG com-petition started just after midday having pincheda bunch of marker cones from the BMFA tent.To the horror of all, Mick Page turned up withoutmodel claiming “arthritis” and “I am not launch-ing as high as I used to so I am not entering.”These excuses were not accepted as an HLG com-petition without Mick would be like a boiled eggwithout salt. He was dispatched forthwith to re-turn with his “Butterfly” still grumbling about“my back hurts, it’s not fair, I’m too old.” This,however, was zero sympathy day, alas.

The seniors (Mick, Mark Benns and Ivan Clark)were present and battle commenced with copiousmaxes. Mick and Mark both dropped the firstround to a 55 sec flight and traded maxes untilthe 5th flight when Mark dropped to a 42s in badair.At the sixth round, Ivan had a string of perfect

scores and only needed another max to win. Mickwas 5 sec adrift. Tension was high and the pro-tagonists waited. The timekeepers were bribedwith ginger biscuits for a competent job, and thebanter was rife. Mick launched high, Ivan stayedon the ground, then hooked the launch in hastefor a disappointing 36sec. Mick, therefore was thewinner of a very close fought contest, his best re-sult for some years, and at 67, THE OLDESTMAN EVER TO WIN HLG AT THE NATS!”..IDM.

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While pretending to listen to that excel-lent raconteur Steve Turner chairmanBernie is really thinking how he can makeoff with the Editor’s Pee We Pal withoutbeing noticed.

Saturday 23rd May: The Nationals, Barkston HeathBryan Lea writes:

BMFA Free Flight Nats, Rubber Kitscale.A clean sweep for Peterborough MFC in the new Outdoor Rubber-powered Kit Scale class!

Congratulations to Kevin Wallace, Bryan Lea and Russ Lister.Some rather breezy weather greeted the 14 entries. There are few rules in this class, models

are based on any kit model that has ever been made. The aim of the competition is to make 3flights of 30 seconds duration in the allowed time of one hour. The flight score is the differ-ence plus or minus in whole seconds from the target time of 30 seconds. There is no judgingfor appearance or flight realism. So in effect a Bowden competition for rubber scale modelswith all models being flown from a chuck glider type square to keep the action going and pro-vide interest and a spectacle for spectators. There were 14 entries making 42 flights plus trim-ming, so plenty to see…(The full rules can be found on the BMFA Scale website.)

In their own words, here are the PMFC entrants’ recollections of the comp:1st Kevin Wallace, Kharkov R10

“This is a 22” Easy Built laser cut kit of a low-winged Russian light bomber and reconnais-sance plane that was used from 1936 - 45. The kit is available from SAMs Models.My approach to Kit Scale was very similar to Andy Sephton’s. I looked at the weather and

chose three models according to the conditions. As it was extremely gusty on arrival I decidedto go with my Easy Built Kharkov R - 10 as it was expendable…and I knew that it would han-dle the conditions. This model was trimmed for realism originally so I guessed the amount of

Team Rascal Portugal, by Julio, a very tal-ented gentleman. PMFC member, of course,and who eagerly anticipates his visits toOld Warden.

rubber needed for a climb and cruise in the prevail-ing conditions. I did a couple of quick trim flightsand worked out that it was achieving 25 - 35 sec-onds on 1400 turns. That is what I stuck to. Therest as they say, is history…I was lucky enough tomanage one flight of exactly 30 seconds and one of25. The third flight had drama as I collided with abystander at 21 seconds whilst the aircraft was stillfour feet up: as it was witnessed by the judges Iwas allowed a reflight with the result of a 32 sec-ond flight giving me a total of 7 seconds off thetarget time. I was elated and pleased that my prepa-ration was just taking the model out of the box andthree trimming flights after a two yearlayup…lucky so-and-so!

In the photo I am wearing my winner’s medal andholding the model. The colour scheme of which isauthentic, by the way, the result of winter emulsionwashing off with use…”

“ Kev’s win with an error of only seven seconds was as remarkable as it was de-served. He had a well built, well trimmed model that performed on the day”…AndySephton.

2nd Bryan Lea, Comet Curtiss Robin.The model was built from the 1935 Comet plan that is available on the Outerzone website. I also

have another smaller Curtiss Robin which is of much heavier construction and weight 43grammes,and an unstarted radio control kit. (See also “Page Three Model” in the 2013 “Summer Light-ning” edition of this mag….Ed.) The Nats model is 25” span and weight 45 grammes ready to fly.I had previously flown this model at Old Warden when I managed to put it into a tree so I knew ithad some potential. Preparation for the Nats consisted of making up a new motor of 4 x 1/8” rub-ber. I had one practice flight on the day before and found that 850 turns gave me a duration of 27seconds, so well pleased with that I put the model back in its box. My first competition flight wasonly 21 seconds so I upped the turns to 900 and did 27 and 28 for my second and third flights alltimed by Ray Millard. Total differential 14 seconds.3rd Russ Lister, Aerographics SE5a“I flew my SE5a that had only recently come third at the BMFA Indoor Scale Nats. (See photo,

page 8.).This is one of the best kits that I have built. It is a Mike Midkiff design and kitted byAerographics, covered in brown Esaki and the buff tissue that came with the kit.

I did one test flight…the first time the model had flown since the Indoor Nats. I used the rubberthat I had used for the last flight , a non qualifier. I wound to what I thought would give 30 sec-onds (1250 turns) and was pleasantly surprised to get a 28 second flight. I went with the 1250turns for each of my official flights. The first was 25 sec. and the next 32. With time running outthe last flight was a bit rushed and was only 20 seconds. The nose bearing had started to crushinto the nose making the prop catch, and the thrust line alter causing it stall a little. Still, very hap-py with my third place..” Total differential, 27.

7th Gareth Tilston, KK Piper Family Cruiser.“This entry was a Piper Family Cruiser that I found hanging up. It was untested/untrimmed I just

put it in the car to make up the numbers. Kit Scale is not really my thing, which perhaps explainsthe 7th place.” Total differential 27.

(Month of May: Norwich was promoted, hooray. But Ch*lsea won the premiership,proving that every silver lining has a cloud.)